East West Information

Ontario reported 807 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday with 166 of those patients requiring intensive care.

There are over 100,000 Canadians living with aphasia, a communication disorder that affects the ability to understand and express language, according to the Aphasia Institute. Christine Patten is one of them.

The World Health Organization has released an updated plan for COVID-19, laying out three possible scenarios for how the pandemic will evolve this year.

In multiple countries, fourth doses are being explored as a way to ward off waning immunity. So does that mean you should rush out and get another shot if the opportunity arises? Not necessarily.

U.S. regulators have authorized a fourth dose of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for Americans 50 and older because of concerns about waning immunity in the age group, the drugmakers said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, the CAQ government officially unveiled its plan to revamp its ailing health network with a promise to prioritize access to front-line health services, eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses and reduce wait times in ERs.

Newly released videos that show two B.C. therapists cuddling, spooning, blindfolding and pinning down a distressed PTSD patient during clinical trials using MDMA have prompted a review of their work and fresh concerns about public safety.

For what's believed to be the first time in at least 30 years, a hospital in northwestern Ontario had to close its emergency room this weekend due to a lack of available physicians, in another example the toll the doctor shortage is taking on care in the region.

The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta saw fewer stroke patients, but a higher number of stroke-related deaths, according to new research.

A Toronto man who was paralyzed in a fall years ago finds himself struggling to pay for basic medical supplies he needs, including catheters. Advocates say thousands of Canadians with spinal cord injuries are in the same situation and governments need to step up and better fund medical equipment.

In less than a week, 8,600 health-care workers have been absent mostly due to COVID-19, says Quebec's interim public health director Dr. Luc Boileau. 

A woman who filed complaints with Ontario’s Ministry of Long-Term Care says her father’s home served her with a trespass notice in retaliation. The home says it can’t comment on the matter because of an investigation into her alleged harassment of staff at the facility.

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced Friday that the federal government will send another $2 billion to provinces and territories to help clear the health care backlog created by the years-long pandemic crisis.

Quebec's Medicago vaccine could still be considered for emergency use, says the WHO, pending policy discussions on dealing with potentially valid health products that are linked to the tobacco industry.

A recent study out of Quebec looked at health-care workers who are grappling with life-altering long COVID impacts — which could jeopardize their ability to work while putting strain on the healthcare system, researchers say.

Residents of long-term care and retirement homes will be able to get another booster by early next week, said Dr. Luc Boileau, speaking at a news conference Wednesday.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine works in babies, toddlers and preschoolers, the company announced Wednesday — and if regulators agree it could mean a chance to finally start vaccinating the youngest children by summer.

We asked teenagers from three countries how their lives have changed over the past two years. Here are their stories.

A small team of Canadian health care workers who volunteer their time in disaster zones around the world are on the ground in Ukraine and Poland aiding some of those trying to escape the war. CBC spent five days watching them work.

A proposal in the new Liberal-NDP agreement to create a national dental care program for low-income Canadians could deliver the largest expansion of Canada’s public health care system in decades.

A more transmissible subvariant of the Omicron variant has emerged in Saskatchewan and doctors say it shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has not ended.

Health officials in South Korea have instructed crematories to burn more bodies per day and funeral homes to add more refrigerators to store the dead as families struggle with funeral arrangements amid a rise in COVID-19 deaths.

The Liberals have agreed to launch a new dental care program for low-income Canadians in exchange for the NDP supporting their government until 2025.

Ontario has lifted its masking requirements in most indoor settings including in schools, restaurants, gyms and stores as the province reports 551 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Monday.

A recent rise in global COVID-19 cases, the spread of a more contagious Omicron subvariant and a spike in early surveillance signals across Canada has experts worried we could be on the verge of an "ugly spring."

Mask mandates will be lifted in most indoor settings on Monday and that could mean an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Experts say those increases should be manageable, but how we act will matter. 

Canada's chief public health officer said Friday the federal government is actively reviewing all of its vaccine mandates with an eye to ending rules that force some people to get their COVID-19 shots.

Hong Kong's cumulative coronavirus infections have exceeded one million as the city grapples with a widespread outbreak that has killed more people than the reported COVID-19 deaths in all of mainland China.

Canada’s overdose crisis has only worsened during the pandemic, with the number of people dying from illicit drugs soaring to new heights in many provinces. According to those who research and work with drug users, the country’s increasingly toxic drug supply is to blame.

Health Canada has approved the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of six and 11 years old.

Ontario's COVID-19 science table says based on an uptick of coronavirus detected in wastewater and the province ending most public health measures next week, it's predicting more people will wind up in the hospital and in some cases intensive care. 

While cases in Ontario have been declining since they peaked in early January amid the Omicron surge, the province is now beginning to see more coronavirus turn up in its wastewater surveillance less than a week before mask mandates are set to lift in most settings.

The World Health Organization has paused the process for pre-qualification of Quebec City-based Medicago's new Covifenz shot due to its link to cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris International. 

After more than a month of decline, COVID-19 cases started to increase around the world last week, the World Health Organization said. It said the rise was largely driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, the BA.2 subvariant and the lifting of public health and social measures.

A new study out of Hong Kong suggests Omicron might be surviving longer on everyday objects than its early predecessor — raising questions about which basic precautions to prevent surface-based transmission might still be warranted. 

Chinese authorities on Tuesday tightened anti-virus controls at ports, raising the risk of trade disruptions, after some auto and electronics factories shut down as the government fights coronavirus outbreaks.

As we hit the two-year mark since the official start of the pandemic, there are calls for wider inquiries or a commission into what went wrong during the COVID-19 efforts in Ontario and Canada.

More than a year after finishing treatment for an obsession with food and counting calories, Grade 12 student Brooke Ailey of Thunder Bay, Ont., is sharing her story to raise awareness about the prevalence of disordered eating in young female athletes.

During her time at Western University, Tomachi Onyewuchi learned to juggle competing responsibilities: school, work and modelling gigs. But despite good time management and being “very Type A,” she wasn’t prepared for the mental toll that accompanied the nearly 60-hour weeks of her first job.

The mental health of Canadians has deteriorated in the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, putting pressure on a mental health-care system that was already close to a breaking point. 

Two years into the pandemic, Manitoba continues to have the second-highest COVID-19 death rate in Canada. Public health experts say relatively poor health at the outset is partly to blame.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said most long-term care facilities are expected to be ready for more visitors by March 18, although staff shortage may be an issue at some facilities.

March 11 marks the second anniversary of when the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. And CBC viewers share memorable photos that defined the pandemic for them.

Many students entered medical school to help and provide care to others, but COVID-19 restrictions and public health measures have impacted how and what they are learning, which impacts patient care.

Health-care practitioners say this is the second difficult winter in a row for those who live outside. Pandemic pressures on an already-stretched shelter system as well as restrictions prohibiting eating — and getting warm — in fast-food restaurants have left many with nowhere to go on cold nights.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing guidance that will ease the nationwide mask mandate on airplanes, buses and other mass transit in the U.S. next month, according to a U.S. official, but the existing face covering requirement will be extended through April 18.

Two years of the COVID-19 pandemic has pulled Canadians further apart, brought out the worst in people and weakened their compassion for one another, according to the findings of a new survey.

Researchers and advocates are calling for more culturally appropriate care and dedicated dementia research in Canada, where immigrants who are seniors make up over a third of the overall population of older individuals.

Surgery postponements due to the most recent COVID-19 surge in B.C. are further extending wait times for women living with endometriosis — a disease that causes debilitating chronic pain and can lead to organ damage — forcing them to put their lives on hold while they await a surgery that is considered elective, but that they deem essential.

Mask mandates will continue to lift across Canada in the coming weeks, leaving Canadians on their own when it comes to whether or not to pull the polarizing public health tool out of their back pocket to reduce their risk of COVID-19.